POV Aron Brightcloud

‘Are you telling me, you can’t enlarge your mouth and other body-parts apart from eating corpses?’

I looked disbelievingly at my companion. My dreams of a ferocious, size-changeable monster going up in smoke before they had even fully formed.

My little brother contemplated for a second.

‘Exactly. Wait, no! Certain delicious living animals are also possible. But they need to have this prickly feel to them, you know?’ he brightly replied.

Remembering poor Fenrix I had the urge to hit my head against the next wall.

‘And naturally the best one we mustn’t forget!’

‘Yes?’ maybe not all was lost. I hopefully raised my head.

‘Yes! Precious artifacts! The higher the grade, the better! Through eating them I can improve my body, slowly turning bones to steel! And as an added effect, they get even a glossy sheen to them! Isn’t that great?’

‘Totally’ my listless thought flowed back to my little brother, only reaching him just so. I sunk back down into my chair, blankly starring out the window. My future was bleak.

No. I couldn’t give in. I had to fight on. With renewed vigor, I straightened myself. Although calamitous, we could survive this problem! Right, I still had Olivia. I moved my focus on my beautiful little undead hunter, perched on my shoulder.

I scratched her carapace, feeling the contentment through our bond. Yes, not all was lost, at least I could depend on one of them!

Grinning, I stopped myself. Enough joking for the time being. Letting myself go a little helped to relax and unwind, yet I couldn’t do it too often or for too long. Important tasks awaited my attention. Plans needed to be created and back-ups had to be prepared. One never knew when disaster struck.

The moon shone through, illuminating my chamber lightly. I leaned back in my armchair.

The experience-energy had done nothing to heal the holes in my core-wall. It had only improved the wall itself. It looked like I would keep the benefits of being able to improve my body and core, yet at the same time be subjected to leakage and self-damage as long as I couldn’t improve my resistance or tolerances to my inherent energy. Still, these were good news in my book. Had the walls completely reformed, I would have become a mediocre mage. But with them staying, it opened the way to unique combinations.

I would perfect my spell-slinging mastery, only using small amounts of energy to not hurt myself. Invisibility trough control was the keyword here. A picture of a warrior, slinging invisible spells around, catching my adversaries off-guard, surfaced in my head. And that was only one part of the coin. I could build up two identities, one as a warrior and one as a mage. Both could fall back on the strength of the other, surprising enemy magicians and warriors who tried to exploit my non-existent weaknesses.

Naturally, the overall plan was to get rid of my weaknesses and build something unique. But that was going to need an enormous amount of time.

For now, I would muddle alone and build my strength in secret.

_______

Arriving at class, I ignored the contempt and evil glances that were directed in my direction and made my way towards my table. Anna was already sitting there.

“Good Morning.” I said and planted myself on the chair next to her.

“Did you achieve consent with your Sister?”

“Morning Aron. Yes, I did. We came to an understanding. At least for now.”

Giving me a half-grin, she pushed her opened book towards me.

“Prepared for the new spell? We will look into shielding today. Wanna bet? I say I will achieve basic mastery before you. Are you up for it?”

Oh my dear Anna, she was shoveling her own grave. Of all the topics she chose the worst one. I hid my grin. Naturally, as a gentleman I had to oblige her. The shield affinity was the only one I planned to make public. It would boost my public value enough to make me a viable choice even with my weak core.

“Sure, let’s bet. Do you have a certain wager in mind?”

“How about paying for a visit in the attunement chamber? Or do you fear loosing?” She looked provocatively at me.

I played the uncertainty up a bit. I was going to enjoy this.

“If you really want to...”

“Good. On a fair competition!” Seeing the glint in her eyes, I felt sure she had her own agenda. Well, we would see. I was sure as long as she hadn’t had mastered the spell beforehand, I would best her. It didn’t matter if she had additional knowledge, I trusted my affinities.

“Let’s start with the lesson! Today we will learn how to shield ourselves! Shields are one of the mage’s most precious spells! It mitigates our biggest weaknesses, our fragility!

You can create small shield, large shields, bubble shields, anything you can imagine. Naturally the different shields will have different demands on your expertise. A shield with a radius of a foot is created easily. Yet a bubble shield which encloses your whole body, needs extensive mastery to carry out.”

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Following his words, an earthen shield appeared in front of him. Hovering a foot away in the air. It protected is front like a normal shield protected a warrior.

It vanished, replaced by a new one. It surrounded him completely. Sealing him up in a complete bubble of see-trough earth mana.

“Naturally, the benefit of a complete shield is its complete defense. Nobody will be able to harm you before they have not taken down the shield. Especially against rogue classes, this will give you an advantage. They love to attack you from sneaky angles, circumventing your normal shields. On the downside it uses a lot of energy and to people versed in mana sensing it burns like a beacon in the night. Letting them hone in on you from miles away.”

He stopped the spell-casting and regarded us with a level stare.

“Now listen. To conjure your first shield you have to push out a steady stream of energy. After it has left your body, use your mind to push out the mana into the form you intend to make. Calling out the word shield will simplify the process of imagining it in your mind which will lead to a stronger and quicker spell. Now practice it.”

At hearing the word steady, my heart stopped for a beat. I hated steady, my channels ill equipped to support me with steady streams of energy. I might took my mouth too full when I believed myself easily able to conjure shields.

I focused and imagined a shield in my mind. Creating the picture as clear as possible. My arcane energy flowed out into my channels. Yet this time something changed. The energy didn’t spread out into the possible pathways. No, as if lead by a ghostly hand it went only through the intended ones, arriving smoothly at my hand, flowing out of it into the air.

There it started to build the shield I had imagined, as steady and easily as if a mold had been hung in the air, waiting to be filled with energy.

Naturally I stopped it. Immediate mastery too eye-catching to allow others to see. Conjuring a shield now would send a too strong message. Yes, I had the rune in my soul, but my “weak” personality needed to have a certain impact to stay believable. Additionally, the manipulation affinity stacked on top of it, so even for other people who had the shield affinity, they couldn’t create it as fast and strong as I could.

I checked on Anna’s progress. Her shield started forming but broke apart due to structural issues. My manipulation and shield rune negated that problem completely. It felt like second nature to conjure a shield, even easier than casting an arrow. I got a new appreciation for why affinities were so sought after. They simplified the spell process dramatically.

Now I understood the difference between broad affinities like my manipulation affinity and the direct linked shield affinity. As the affinity was more specialized it supported the spell to a much greater degree, empowering it to a whole new level.

During the rest of the lesson I played with my shield, only half forming it. With one eye I kept a look out on the other students, observing their progress. Nobody seemed able to create one.

As the end of the lesson crept closer, I judged enough time had passed.

My shield formed fully, protecting my entire front with its turquoise glow.

“How?! You!” Anna’s face changed from aghast surprise to understanding as she went through the possibilities.

“You have an affinity for shields?!” half annoyed at my cheating and grinning at me getting the better of her she slumped back in defeat.

My sudden mastery had awoken the attention of my other classmates. I could read their thoughts in their eyes. The waste had somehow bested them?!

I winked at Anna “I am looking forward to the attunement chamber. Was great betting with you. We should repeat this in the future.”

Anna wanted to retort but had to keep up certain decorum, her facade of nobility cracking at the seams before she recovered control.

“Congratulation Aron, I am happy for you!” Her smiling face covertly promising swift retribution.

Teacher Monrose naturally had caught my performance as well.

“Well done Aron. I take it, you are in possession of the shield affinity? I will write you up for specialized classes. Congratulation.”

Nodding, I thanked him. Good, that should have elevated my standing enough to keep me out of certain troubles, but not enough to become too high profile. For once I was spared the contempt and snide comments when we walked out of the classroom. A welcome change.

Anna and I strolled down the hallway. Her eyes drilling holes into me from the side.

“Out with it. You are gonna hurt yourself if you don’t stop starring, that can’t be good for your eyes.” I quipped.

Her body tensed and relaxed, suddenly smiling at me.

“Everything is fine. I think I should start digging a bit deeper into your secrets. I imagine there is more hidden than you have shown so far?”

“You do? Don’t you think I would have shown it if I still had been this brilliant genius?”

I shook my head. “No. I may have some tiny aces hidden, but not enough to be who I once was.”

Her eyes clearly told me she didn’t believe my answer, yet decided to let it lie for now.

She shook her head with a self-depreciating laugh.

“I should have known I was not the only one with secrets. My instructors had shown me the entire spell-casting process. I was so sure that I would win.

My gut told me to not bet against you. Yet my belief in my advantages blinded me to the reality.”

Anna sighed.

“Well, lets go. We have the rest of the morning for us. Why not use the time to check out the attunement-chamber?”

“Sure, let’s go.”

Walking, Anna’s eyes ogled me again from the side.

I laughed at her. “Not again! If you have a question, ask.”

She grinned in response. “Okay. I was wondering what you planned to do in the future. Will you join the military or become an adventurer?”

“That’s a good question.” Although I had been in the military in the old world this time, I would take a different path.

“I think I will become an adventurer. I like the freedom they provide. Although I support the army and its duty, I would feel too constricted if part of it. In addition, it is not like I won’t be able to work together with them. They often hire contractors to help out.”

I observed her. “What about you?”

“I will naturally join the military. My family has always been part of it. I want to make this world a better place. The weak should not have to suffer like they do now. There is so much evil, that it sickens me sometimes.”

I knew that she believed in the virtues but I hadn’t been prepared for her fervent speech.

Still in her own world, she continued.

“Especially the demons and other evil beings need to be culled. There are evil existences that have no right to live on this world.”

Having heard her words I set a mental marker. A meeting between Sephiroth and Anna needed to be prevented at all costs. Not that I feared for my fiery servant slash pain in the ass. She would eat Anna raw if it came to a fight. But Anna could make having Sephiroth as a servant a living hell, raining down the holy might of the bureaucracy that stood behind the empire.

I tried to relativize her broad sentences.

“For sure there exist certain bad individuals. But categorizing them as evil by race is a bit much, no?”

Anna shook her head vehemently.

“No, Aron. You don’t know what they have done in the past. They are evil. Believe me, my family has hunted all sorts of abominations. They can’t be left alive. For the greater good of our world!”

How I loved fanatics… Although I didn’t share her view, I couldn’t do much at the moment. To a certain degree, she was my lifeline here at the academy. And apart of the little fanatic streak I hadn’t known about, she had been a great friend so far. Not having much options, I pushed it back. If I couldn’t change her, we would have to part ways soon. I wouldn’t let Sephiroth fall. Hopefully I could broaden Anna’s worldview in the near future.